Something for non-druid/ranger PCs not to kill animals

[Drakill Tannan]

If it is already there, i am not aware. But it appears any PC that does not have AE ir stealth must kill all wolves cats and bats he find on his way, even if he is a naturey kind, like a cleric of sivlanus or a tribal barbarian, or a nature sorcerer, etc.

Could we have, maybe some item that made some kind of animals, such as bats and small groups of wolves, not to attack the PC? Perhaps something accesible only to druids, and given by them to PCs worthy.

[Ebok]

Pure Druids with Animal Empathy automatically calm some animals. They stay red and hostile but you can walk right past them and they ignore you. It's based on how high your animal empathy is, and how many HD they have. I will note, that it doesnt do anything against non-animals.

As for other PC's.. be they fighter, cleric, barbarian or what have you; animals consider you to be food. It doesn't matter if you don't want to hurt them, they want to hurt you. Killing them is fine, it is not wanton slaughter. Offer a small prayer, say they will return to the earth, or however you choose to play it out.

If you are playing a character that is totally pacifistic and doesnt want to hurt animals... then you will have to be able to walk through their domain without disturbing them. AE druid, or stealth, or invisibility.

[Germain]

A simple fact of nature.  If you feel like you need to avoid/not kill animals then you will likely need to find other ways around it.  Invisibility, scare, knockdown and running... the list goes on.

[Drakill Tannan]

Re-thinking the suggestion...

Why not make a high wilderness survival make animals ignore your PC like a high AE would on rangers and druids?

[chezcaliente]

Buy a wand of Charm Animal from a Druid if you're a cleric / ranger / Paladin who doesn't want to kill animals.

I may or may not have a vested interest in such purchases. >.>

[Dr Dragon]

Nature is a cruel world of kill or be killed. The hunters care not if you dont wish them harm. The predator sees you as a meal and it is up to you to overcome it. Avoid it or draw steel and face the bounty of nature. I do not want to see the laws and rules of nature watered down so nature friendly PCS can walk at ease without fearing for the predator.

Druids and rangers are blessed and hold the skills to train animals and calm them down. If anything people who don't want to kill animals should have large Dire tigers sent to hunt after them who enjoy the flesh of men who avoid killing animals.

[Equinox]

DRD you blow my mind. Amen to the good doctors words

[Egon the Monkey]

"Nature is a cruel world of kill or be killed. The hunters care not if  you dont wish them harm. The predator sees you as a meal and it is up to  you to overcome it."

About 98% of the time on Ymph, the predator gets its ass kicked. You'd think there'd be a selective pressure against rats that think 5 on one is good odds and platemail is tasty by now. The rule of nature is "survive to breed", which animals that charge into certain death lack a tendency to do.
 
Perhaps the AE ignorance mechanism could apply to all PCs in that animals also ignore you or even flee from you based on character level, so they only attack you if they stand a chance of winning. It wouldn't gimp the danger of saber tigers or other badass beasts jumping PCs, but it would mean a Circle Guardian's walk to somewhere wouldn't involve slaughtering every last 5HP critter in his path. A strong team might not even realise a cat is in a zone, a weaker group might be targeted. Rather than simply walking into a zone and waiting for the attack, powerful hunter PCs would need detection skills to track down wildlife that's actively hiding from them because they know the PC looks like a better predator. Maybe it's too much work for little real point, but it makes sense that not all wildlife would have a deathwish. Animal Empathy would then be the skill that allows you to avoid stuff that WOULD have a chance of eating you, because you're a clever backwoods type who can do that.

As a side suggestion and a simpler one, perhaps weaker animals could be given the Shargaas Disciple AI and Hide in plain sight so they rely on ambushing and harrying PCs, and others given ranged mob AI so that they flee if beaten rather than fight to the death? it would  make animals more flavourful in how they fight than only ever being kamikazes. Certainly if Deer fled from everything, it'd make them more fun to hunt than being sitting ducks.

Certainly none of those ideas are necessary, the wilderness is really well balanced by now. However they'd add that bit more atmosphere to animal spawns.

[Drakill Tannan]

DRD nature doesn't work that way, at all. If anything 99% of animals should flee in panic the moment you are remotely nerby. It's far easier to not kill anmals IRL without the ened of magical druidic powers than it is on EFU. It is simply frustrating then, that a PC who would want not to harm the wildlife has no way of doing so unless he is druid/ranger.

Buy a wand of Charm Animal from a Druid if  you're a cleric / ranger / Paladin who doesn't want to kill animals.

I may or may not have a vested interest in such purchases. >.>

I will do that, actually. I just need to raise the gold. Considering  this is a wild PC who should be in nature areas 80% of his time, i think  this will be very expensive though, not practical at all.

[Luke Danger]

The annoying thing is that nature PC's seem to now be giving us shit for defending ourselves; my party had one ballsy druid asking for a ass-whuppin' running us out.

Seriously, Ymph's wildlife is fairly unrealistic. I could understand a lone panther or a group of wolves thinking they can take that juicy halfling in mist chainmail, but a half dozen heavily armored fighters in full plate and weilding tower shields? No way in hell would they realistically attack.

But I end it with this: Bellisaros' Maxim

[Aye Lad]

I really like the idea of jaguars and panthers avoiding you based on an algorithm determined by size, level, and amount of clanking armor.

[Portal Rat]

About 98% of the time on Ymph versus PCs, the predator gets its ass kicked.

Adventurers in full plate are the exception, not the rule. There are plenty of things for rats to eat: goblins, children, wounded orcs, any of the above mentioned animal carcasses left behind by adventurers, etc.

[Howlando]

I agree that wildlife in Ymph isn't really realistic.

I'm not sure it's really worth coding this stuff, but I wouldn't mind seeing -

- An EFUSS skill called "Animal Friendship" or something that, if maxed, will make animals not attack you on perception. - There aren't even that many animals around these days, given what's happening with the Withering, so I don't think it would be unbalancing.

- A replacement for that that is either Druid given or DM given

- A method by which druids/rangers could initiate a dialogue with an animal and "send it to safety" (making it disappear), or perhaps provide some bonus if they take an animal to the edge of the map

- Animals being smarter and not just mindlessly charging everything they see (avoiding higher level PCs, avoiding groups, etc)

[chezcaliente]

Yeah - the animals not mindlessly charging everything they see would certainly make for a more realistic feel based on CR of their opponents.

Deer set to flee would also make sense, making hunting them a little more dangerous if you chase them to an area with more dangerous predators waiting.

But if you truly are a friend of the wilds, I highly recommend befriending druids to accompany you in the wilds. Many of the more dangerous predators are solo beasts that can be AE-ed by a druid and led to safety. Ayumu has certainly done this for PCs fleeing creatures such as Great Lizards.

[Kinslayer988]

I do like that idea